PARIS — Selectmen from Norway and Paris met Tuesday to discuss entering a new contract with Time Warner Cable on access for both towns as well as use for Norway/Paris Community Television.

The current cable contract expired at the end of September 2004.

Norway Town Manager David Holt recommended signing the Maine Model Cable TV Franchise, a document crafted by a Maine Municipal Association representative, an attorney from the Bernstein Shur law firm and a Time Warner Cable official as a standard contract between towns and cable companies.

Holt said there was little to be gained in trying to negotiate more than the Model Franchise guarantees.

“The company that we’re talking to is a national company,” Holt said of Time Warner. “If they don’t have a franchise in Norway-Paris, I don’t know that they’re going to lose a great deal of sleep over it.”

Steve Galvin, station manager at Norway/Paris Community Television called the model agreement a “boilerplate franchise agreement,” and said some blanks in it must be filled in, particularly one that allows a 5 percent fee on Time Warner’s revenue to pay for the TV station.

He said he doubted it would be a problem as Time Warner charges the fee directly to consumers above their regular bill.

Galvin said many provisions of the old contract were on issues like building out Time Warner’s system to cover all residents. Now that everyone on main roads has access, building out the system isn’t a concern.

Mike Edgecomb, director of Government Relations for Time Warner Cable, said the system is more modern than many larger cities and that high-speed fiber optics run throughout the town. “You’re probably not more than a half-mile from fiber,” he told Paris resident John Richardson, who asked about Time Warner’s use of fiber optics.

Only about five residents from the two towns were in attendance. Norway and Paris selectmen agreed to meet again to discuss the cable contract.

treaves@sunjournal.com